MILPA / MAIZ -- MAGUEY / PULQUE -- SON
This is at the least a two-week project, but I want to get it all "on the table" for you to consider. We'll start now, return to the material later in the semester. These pairs of terms can be seen as central to la cultura mexicana. That is, they offer ways to locate (place!) what it means to be from México. What I want you do is get into this material--the exploration, as always, is open. I've juxtaposed reading with current videos and songs--because they each reflect the theme in different ways. You'll need to make the synthesis in your projects. Let the visual be your guide!
(Note that we'll then move on to la canción romántica--la trova yucateca, Agustin Lara, los tríos--an entirely different tradition--with a different feel, and very different sources. More "urbane." Ry Cooder's story, La vida es un sueño (set in LA) will figure in this. And after, return to "el centro de México..." (Remind me about the film, Paris, Texas...and Ry Cooder's role in making its soundtrack...and why I showed it to you last night.)
DOWNLOADS:
* El Cuarteto Coculense 1908-09 (Some of the earliest recorded Mariache music). These are 19th century sones (country songs).
http://rapidshare.com/files/1010425931/S%26P%20Mexico%20Cuarteto%20Coculense%201908-09.zip
* Los Cenzontles (a contemporary group from the Bay Area who have returned to the same musical sources)
http://rapidshare.com/files/1632394596/S%26P%20Mexico%20Los%20Cenzontles.zip
READING: Octavio Paz, Conquista y colonia (keep referring to Don Octavio--his ideas are central to what we're doing).
The new reading (below) will get you into Frances Toor. Remember, her observations come from the 1930s--that's crucial to why we're reading her book. I've paired her chapters with YouTube videos. Something I suggest you explore as well:
Frances Toor:
Toor: Description of the Virgen de Guadalupe pps. 172-178
fiesta tradiccional de la virgen de guadalupe - YouTube (we watched some of this one this together in class)
Toor: Description of the Señor de Chalma (pps. 178-184)
Peregrinación al Santuario del Señor de Chalma (Ocoyoacac, Estado de México) - YouTube
chalma, 1 - YouTube
Mariachi Coculense de Cirilo Marmolejo El Santo Señor de Chalma - YouTube (treated in song)
Note: I remember reading this chapter from Frances Toor some time back, and forming my own mental image of these pilgrimages. Which made it all the more fascinating to find contemporary video versions. So--now we can "see" what she's describing--but what we see includes many elements from a very different world--that is, our own...
Toor: Description of the harvest of maguey and the making of pulque p. 15-18
Some of the videos below are better than others, but they'll get you started. Compare the "home videos" with "professional documentary" productions. How do they differ in what they each reveal?
MAGUEY-- LA COSECHA - YouTube
MIEL DE MAGUEY Y LOS TLACHIQUEROS - YouTube
Elaboración del pulque - YouTube
El Pulque... - YouTube
ciudad de mexico en la pulqueria - YouTube (follow this one with Chava Flores)
Chava Flores Los Pulques De Apan - YouTube (Chava Flores--D.F. puro--with his own take on la pulqueria...
Voy en El Metro Chava Flores - YouTube (otro de sus "corridos urbanos")
La MILPA / Cosecha de MAÍZ
Look into the word word MILPA. La palabra tiene origen--y significado--bastante viejo en la cultura mesoamericana. The videos (from today) give a hint of this:
Milpa de Arnulfo.wmv - YouTube (note that this is a video from la serviette mission project)
Cultivo de Maiz - YouTube
Then consider these popular songs (composed songs, studio recordings, not folkloric material). Al mismo tiempo, they're beautiful, and reflect the same cultural world:
Cuatro milpas
DAVID ZAIZAR CUATRO MILPAS - YouTube
CUATRO MILPAS: Antonio Bribiesca (La Guitarra Mexicana) - YouTube (with good visuals)
Cuatro Milpas-Las Jilguerillas - YouTube (versión mas bien norteña! Siempre con su propia energía...)
El desterrado
"El Desterrado" Hnos. Zaizar - YouTube (consider the theme here...)
Juan Charrasqueado ("en una choza muy humilde") This one for the way the words themselves form a backdrop. Milpa, choza, pedregal...
CHAVELA VARGAS | Juan Charrasqueado - YouTube
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Aside: "En Carmona hay una fuente...con catorce o quince caños..." copla flamenca. Interesting to compare how the notion of figura plays out in the world of flamenco (estamos en andalucía, españa, por supuesto):
silverio franconetti en carmona - YouTube